Inception: Sacrifice
by Avatarone3
Summary: Feelings grow stronger between the Point Man and the Architect, but neither has the courage to speak out. Takes just one wrong move. Will they speak the truth to each other at dying breaths? Or will it take a trip to Limbo to find the real secrets hidden?


It had started with a dream, that one dream of that one mission that had changed it all for her. And here she was, thinking it was only to be a job, until he did that…

"_What's happening?"_

"_His subconscious is looking for the dreamer: me. Quick, give me a kiss…"_

"_They're still looking at us… _

"_Yeah, it was worth a shot."_

She never saw that coming. Not by a long shot. But she had never before been one for understanding or being involved in relationships, being too consumed in her studies-and now, her job- to notice or care.

_But his lips…._

There must have been something there. Something that made him do it. An inkling? A deception? A _desire_? Arthur was never one for too many words; his actions always said it all, unless actions couldn't explain what was happening in the dream, but that's where he always left it, in the dream. Neither of them spoke of what had happened when they returned to reality, but she constantly found her gaze slipping towards him afterwards, her mind on his face, his expressions, his eyes, his gentlemanly way of how he treated her, how he worked, how he rolled up his sleeves (which she never told a soul how much she loved the form of his arms and hands), his deep laugh, how his half-crooked smile and soft eyes would sometimes meet her; and slowly she began to melt.

But it was never returned, at least on his outside, hard exterior. He never gave an explanation, or even an expression, but somehow, there was always a connection between their thoughts. Whether talking of work or sometimes just idle water cooler rumors of what chemical Eames had snuck from Yusuf and put in whose shampoo this time, they had deeper conversations between their eyes. And she saw it there. She never needed to ask him. All of what he wanted to say to her, his true feelings, was always in his eyes.

But was it her imagination? A dream? She desperately wanted him to say what she saw, so she would know it was real. She wanted to tell him those three words she knew were true to her heart towards him, but what if she was just seeing things? She felt like Mal now, starting to mingle dreams with reality. And the question was building inside of Ariadne, so much so that she had to ask him. Not with eyes, but with her voice. She had made the decision.

Of course, bad timing ruins everything.

They had gotten that call late on a September afternoon, when the leaves began to change and everything seemed alright and steady in their lives on the outside. One of Saido's old business partners had heard of their work ("confidentially, of course," was the man's stark reply to Cobb's question of where he had gotten their "home" number), and sending Arthur out to do his "Point Man thing," as Eames called it, the Extractor sat down with the Architect, the Forger, and the Chemist to discuss the matter of the situation.

"It's a simple enough inception," Dom started, pointing to various papers scattered on the desk before him. "We need to plant the idea of Mr. Hoyazaki's son forsaking his birthright as the next of kin to take the company out of the stock markets because he wants to keep his family together, even though his family ties are completely normal; a quarrel here and there, someone cussing another out, brother-sister type of stuff. We make it look like it's an actual want-to-murder-my-family type of scene. This in turn will keep the stocks in Hiyako's name, where he can do what he likes with them. Now all we need is Arthur to come back to tell us what we're up against."

"So we are doing pretty much exactly the same as Saido's mission, besides screwing with people's minds in a different fashion?" Eames ran his fingers around the poker chip in his hand.

"Almost to the point," Dom stood up and pulled his jacket down. "You need to forge pictures of this man, Suzuki, the son's business associate, and of Hoyazaki himself. Yusuf, we need a third level dreaming serum once more, if you please."

"I'll get on it right away."

"Ariadne, I'll need you to outline plans of the business complex and of Hoyazaki Jr.'s home, plus add some twists, if you'd like."

"Sounds like a plan."

"And we'll be seeing if Arthur wants us to bring in the big guns. We don't want to be unprepared like last time."

It was set. The dates, the times, the plans, the idea. All of the team was ready. Arthur clicked his briefcase shut and grabbed his coat off of the chair before turning towards the door, and his gaze met Ariadne, her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail, a few strands framing her face as she grabbed a few extra maps and layouts, rushing to Cobb's cries of "Hurry up!" and "Too slow people!" Arthur smiled. Cobb always got nervous before a mission, but never during or after even showed a speck of it, and after years of working with his best friend, he knew what would happen every time, almost to the exact point. Maybe that was a secret second version of why he had been nicknamed the Point Man. He knew not to worry. Ariadne, on the other hand, he laughed inside, was still getting used to it; something that he knew would take a while with her…

It was the minute details he noticed, that he scrutinized with, towards her habits, her expressions, how her eyes lit up with each new task given to her. Her hair pulled up when she was nervous and rushing. Her favorite color, red -actually, he thought of it as the perfect shade of persimmon and carnelian reds-would not be worn the day before missions. Those times she would wear grey and brown tones, which complimented her perfectly, as usual. He didn't mind what she wore. He loved how her hands moved when she talked. Her distinct laugh when Eames would joke. The way her voice made his breath hitch in his chest, his heart to pound. The way her smile would change his bad mood-Every. Single. Time. He didn't get it.

He followed her out, the last to leave the warehouse, and he watched her walk before him. He didn't even want to admit to himself, but he had fallen for her long before his logical side had caught up with his heart. His suave side always came out when she was near, and that time in the dream when they were alone, he couldn't help himself… why? He heard himself trying to make it a joke: calm, cool, and collected- _''It was worth a shot," -pathetic, you damn idiot,_ his mind had screamed. He saw the way she nearly did a double take, and he thought he had caught a hint of a smile and a blush…he couldn't tell for sure, until they were out of the dream. And his eyes met hers.

That's when he knew. He knew those three little words were constantly on his mind, in his heart. He'd only known her for maybe the span of a few days, but that little crush of his had turned into something deeper over the weeks…something he had never felt before with other women he had dated…something he wanted to tell her, but habit and self-restraint kept him back. Maybe it was the thought that he had felt so strongly for her, but the uncertainty of her even returning his feelings made him second-guess even his sanity. She had never spoken a word, but he believed to hear every single word that shone from her eyes when they locked.

_Could _he believe it?

Only one way to find out; he'd break past his "Arthur-ness." He would tell her.

Although, dreams rush the reality.

They took control of the son, the father, and a few other minds within the course of a few minutes on the 11:15 first-class train bound for Kyoto, and soon were all connected to the PASIV device, even the team. The plan was to use the first level as Cobb's, then Eames', and the last, the dream with the most detail, would be dreamt by Ariadne. Yusuf would be the outside support, and Arthur would be their defensive.

Simple, yet everything had to be so precise…that was the nature of the job.

They arrived and nearly everyone gawked at the sheer size of the mansion. "Did I mention they're millionaires?" Cobb joked as he opened up a few duffels he had brought, taking out his gun and tossing a few to Eames. "Only to Ariadne," Arthur sarcastically grumbled. She smirked.

"Well, we're here. We didn't spend a couple hundred thousand dollars on heavy equipment just to stare at a dream of a couple million dollars worth of architecture, did we? Let's go. But give our love a gun, won't you, darling?" Eames smirked as he checked the safety. Arthur's eyebrow went up as he stared at the Forger, but took out a small hand gun and tossed it to Ariadne.

"Have you ever shot a gun?"

"Well, I did have shooting practice at a summer camp once." She fingered the weapon and looked up at Arthur. "Try me."

He pointed to the miniature stone garden statue about 200 yards away. "Think you can try to hit the head off?"

She smirked, aimed with the correct stance, and fired with perfect precision into the eye of the statue, causing it to blow off completely. She returned to a relaxing stance and turned towards the three men, all whose mouths were open in shock.

"What kind of summer camp did you say this was?" Dom asked warily.

She shrugged. "An ROTC camp?"

Eames shook his head, letting out a deep breath, and both of Arthur's eyebrows went up.

As did his heart rate.

Cobb took a deep breath. "Let's start, shall we? This shouldn't take very long."

"Not going to take very long, eh Cobb? You crazy son of a bitch!" Eames yelled as he ducked behind the bookcase, another spray of bullets shattering the wood but missing him by inches. He slammed the end of the muzzle and sight of the gun around the corner, gunning down three more of the projections, though he laughed crazily.

"Well _ARTHUR _failed to mention this, AGAIN!" Dom answered, pulling the trigger and taking out another.

"Hey, this was NOT in _any _of the research! Geez Cobb, how about getting your pal Saido to get us this kind of information next time, not have me scraping it out where I can!"

"Enough!" Dom yelled, stepping from out of his shelter, and he stood in the doorway as he gunned down all visible projections in his path. The bullets stopped. He turned around. "Nevermind now. I'm not going to lose it like I did last time, okay? Just…we'll just have to work around th-oh shit!" He ducked for cover as another round broke through the walls.

"Okay, we have to split up. Arthur, you take Ariadne and go to the south end of the mansion, then split up from there, each of you going to a corner, and planting charges in the spots labeled here." He pointed at a map and yelled above the spray of pellets. "Eames and I will go north, and we'll meet back at the cars when Yusuf starts the anthem, alright?"

"Fine!" Ariadne nodded, covering her head. "Let's just make it out alive!"

Dom and Eames crawled on their hands and knees away from the two. "Just watch each others' backs!" Eames cried as he stood up and gunned down. The two older men disappeared into another room, the shots following them.

Arthur reloaded the gun and took her hand, squeezing it in reassurance as he brought her to her feet. "Come on."

They were just about to make it through to the targeted room when a projection shot out from behind one of the china cabinets, leaping on to Arthur and flipping him over his back. The Point Man cried out in pain, but moved out of the way at the last second as the man shot into the floorboards where his head had been. Arthur flipped onto his feet and kicked the man's gun out of his hand, punching him in the face and kneeing upward into the projection's gut, who groaned, and Ariadne brought up the gun before her, eyes wide but fierce as she backed up in fear but aimed for the projection's head, who had Arthur in a death grip, arm around his throat and Arthur had his arms. But his eyes flickered once to the Architect, and he cried out.

"No! Don't do it!"

"Arthur, I won't miss! Trust me!" She cried, as the Point Man before her flipped the projection over his shoulder, and punched him in the face. "We don't have time for this! We have to set the charges!"

"No! Just stay there! Hold on!"

The projection flipped to his feet, and both men reached for their guns as well as each other, but both got tangled in arms and weaponry, combat skills at last wasted as the men were now intertwined, growling at each other. Arthur kneed up in to the man's groin, and the man groaned, but his grip only tightened.

Ariadne could only stare.

Fighting face to face, their arms and guns intertwined, each was trying to take a shot at the other. Both wouldn't give in, muscles straining for their last weapons, waiting for the weaker to give up. All went still except for the man's last words.

"Bet you didn't see even this one coming," he muttered, thick accent and foul breath, even as a projection, filling up the air. Arthur's face became confused at his words, but the man punched him in the gut enough for the young man to let go with one arm in a recoil, and the projection fumbled under his coat past Arthur's gaze, and suddenly, blast of a gun went off.

Ariadne gasped and uttered a small scream, brown eyes suddenly wide in fear, stunned. Arthur's eyes were bewildered, and he jumped a bit at the shock. All he could do was blink and stare hard at his attacker. He thought that the pain was just slow in coming, that he was the one shot, but as seconds dragged onward, he felt no pain, no nothing, and the man smiled wickedly.

There was only one other person in the room, and instinct and fear immediately made his head whip towards her before him, staring back at him in surprise. He stared at her, and her eyes were wide, brown orbs screaming in his head, her mouth partly open, her body rigid and her arms limp by her side, just dully staring at him…as crimson liquid began to spread on her clothing over her chest.

His eyes widened. He heard his voice give way to a guttural scream as his heart and his emotions overtook his senses.

"_NO!"_

Her whole body began to shake at his scream. She had never felt this way before…pain, but it was eerily distant compared to the breath that had suddenly left her lungs and the way her entire being lost heat. She could only stare at _him,_ until she felt her legs go weak.

Anger and fear fueled his adrenaline. Head butting the projection, punching and pushing him away, he ran towards her, reaching for her, and he slid on his knees to catch her just as she collapsed to the floor. It seemed almost natural that he settled the young woman immediately into his arms, which wrapped around her slender form just perfectly, but none of that mattered as he held her close, his hand on her cheek, cupping her jawbone, his other arm beneath and around her shoulders, holding her up.

_No…no no no nonononono NO! _

The walls cracked around them, a sudden driving wind blowing at a hundred different angles, swirling debris and accents from the walls and shelves of the room. What sounded like rolling, thunderous waves within his ears was actually happening outside the window, shattering the glass and howling rage in anger.

The dream was collapsing because the Architect had.

He looked down to her shaking form. Her breath came quickly but faint, in gasps and hiccup breaths, her face had gone paper-white… his touch strayed from her cheek and stroked her hair backwards. "It'll be alright. It'll be alright," he whispered, his voice stammering. "Stay with me." that part was stronger. "Ariadne."

Her scared wide eyes bore into his, screaming for him. For one of the first times in his life, he was scared… he -he didn't know what to do. His logic told him she wasn't really dying, that this was just a dream, but it was enough of a reality in his heart to forget all else but her. His wide eyes scanned hers, back and forth, back and forth, searching for…something. That noiseless connection they shared. His heart was in his throat, his pulse was pounding. He looked down to her chest and tried to stop the bleeding with a palm to the wound, but her lips gave way to a soft cry, and he cringed in agony at seeing her suffering. But all that he tried to focus on was the young woman he held tight. She opened her mouth almost with a twitch of pain, staring at him, her eyes never leaving his.

She felt different inside than what she knew was happening…it was as if her mouth and body language and facial expressions were speaking what her mind could not-and did not-register. The fear in his eyes as he held her close to his chest told her the truth. And then, it hit her. As she stared up at him, feeling herself limp in his slender but powerful embrace, at any other moment, it was exactly where she wanted to be. But the thought came to her, slamming into her like a train. She was _dying_. She was going to fall into Limbo.

Her heart rate increased with the loss of blood, as well as the thought that she would never get to say what she wanted to let him know. And the tears fell from her eyes as she heaved.

"ah….ah…ahy…I- I…l…lo.." she tried to form that last four letter word he so secretly begged her to say on her lips, from her soul, but she couldn't say it, turning into quiet gasping breaths. She became colder in his touch. He nodded.

"I know." He had tears waiting to fall. NO. He'd be strong for her. "I know." his hand went tightly to her cheek. "I want to…I…I... I will not lose you." he clenched his teeth and stared deeply into her eyes, his face less than inches from hers. Why couldn't he tell her? The three words that his heart begged to release off of his tongue would not come. "I'm coming for you. Just hold on, Ariadne. Please!" He begged. Only she would be allowed to see that side of him, that one, unknown side where he would let his guard down. She knew what he was trying to say…

She gulped weakly, nodding, but her breath suddenly stilled, and her glazed stare became solidly fixed on him. She became limp in his arms. He shut his eyes tightly, his jaw clenched, as he held her tighter in his grip. Furrowed eyebrows that had shown pain now creased to pure anger; pure resolve and determination. What had not been said felt like an overshadowing cloud of guilt.

_Next stop: Limbo._

…_he'd go anywhere to get her back._

"Arthur, I hope you set the charges! Okay, we've got ten minutes in this level until Yusuf begins the anthem," Cobb's clear and fast-paced footsteps on the floorboards behind him in the next room and his partner reloading the Beretta Bx4 Storm in his hand made no difference. "By that point we'll be well away from these securities and into the next level. And what's happening up there? Where the hell did this storm come from? Eames, get the auxiliary cables. We're all ready! Arthur? Come on, we're moving on! We have to get out of this storm! Arth-"

The footsteps stopped behind the young man bent over the girl's still form. "Ariadne!" Cobb's voice for immediate concern made Arthur hold her body that much tighter, but by falling to his knees next to his partner, he looked at him. There was a look he'd never seen before, as his Point Man stared at her glazed brown eyes permanently fixed on him.

The walls instantly started to disintegrate, strong winds like hurricanes blew around, and the Extractor shielded his friend and his head from flying debris. Arthur held her tighter to his chest. 'What's going on?" Cobb yelled.

"She's dead, and the dream is unraveling. If there's no architect, there's no dream." Arthur's cracked voice rose above the driving wind.

Cobb looked at Ariadne, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Arthur. We will get her back. But we must move! Our mission is our priority before the dream unravels! Now!"

"No," was his dull reply.

"No?"

Arthur put Ariadne down gently, closing her eyes himself as her head fell to the side. He rose to his feet, still staring down at her, forcing himself not to tear up. Convinced it was held in, he turned his face to the Extractor, his hair now out of its normal place, and wind whipping before them. "All my life I've loved this job. The pay was amazing, and I loved taking risks. Money and risks were the most important things in my life, the _only _things! But now there's something more important," he said directly, looking down at her. His voice rose in anger and volume. "She's more important to me than any sum of money, Cobb! I'm not going to let her mind rot in Limbo! I'm not leaving this place without her, so you're going to go on, and I'm going to get her. No. Questions."

"Are you insane? I will not risk losing my best point man and my best friend!" He shook the younger man, yelling at him. "Get your head on straight. I'm sorry we lost her, _really_, I am. BUT NOW IS NOT THE TIME, Arthur. We all knew the risks. As did she. I need you!"

"And you need her!" Arthur yelled in Cobb's face all the louder, pointing to her body. "She designed this place! She holds the keys! You can go on, but not far, without her! And that's just the business standpoint, Cobb! Did you ever care like last time about what would happen if we did get stuck down there? "I went to save Saido! Don't tell me I didn't care!"

"Because you needed him to get back home, Cobb!"

"Because he had become an ally! And any allies we have I wouldn't DARE to leave behind!"

"You needed him to help you get back to those you love! He was partly a pawn. Do not deny it."

"I don't, Arthur! I needed him, yes. He had information we needed!"

"_She _has information we need! She's your ally as well! And you're going to leave _her_? How are we supposed to get to the next level without her?"

"Now you're saying she is a pawn as well, Arthur! Think of what you're saying! And didn't she show you all of it? You can lead us through this!"

"Yes, she did! but I am not leaving her!"

"Why? Why is this so important? Answer me that, Arthur! Just that one question!"

"I-" his face went blank, his voice gone, staring at him, but then stared back down at Ariadne. He didn't want his friend to see him this emotionally unstable, especially not on a mission, which at this point, he was about to break down. He closed his eyes, tears once again threatening.

"I will make it back in time before the kick, _with _her. Please, Cobb. Trust me." His voice pleaded with a whisper, so low that Dom strained to hear above the thunder. "I just…" Cobb looked down at the young woman, the blood on her chest, the same blood on his partner's hands. He looked up into the saddened eyes of his Point Man, the same look that he had had which seemed like ages ago. That feeling for another.

It suddenly clicked. Dom had known what love was… _was this the same between the Point Man and the Architect?_

"Dammit. Fine," he stated directly, clapping his hand on Arthur's shoulder, and gratitude immediately filled the young man's eyes; a firm line of an indebted smile played across his face. "But how do I kill you slowly but with enough power to bring you back?"

"Um," he looked around, his eyes finding his partner's gun by his side. "Use her idea of the defibrillator, the one you told me of used in the Fischer project. Shoot me in the leg, near the femoral artery, but set me up to the charges and set them to go off at the time of the kick."

"But what-"

"Dom, trust me. Please."

Cobb's eyes showed uncertainty and sadness as he brought his gun to Arthur's leg and pulled the trigger. The blast shook the walls, and the young man screamed in pain, his head falling forward to Cobb's chest, and his friend held him tightly in his grip on his arms, keeping him from falling.

Dom watched his partner before him, his neck stretched backwards in pain, his head nodding around as blood loss overtook his senses. He felt faint, and definitely pain now, but Dom's face creased.

"This is taking too long… we have to move on, Arthur."

His Point Man looked up, white faced and eyes dull, as Cobb suddenly pulled up his gun to his chest, and released the trigger just as Eames came through the doorway.

The gun dropped to the floor, its owner in shock. The Forger's eyes were confused and his mouth open in disbelief, going numb at the sight. Arthur cringed, clenching his teeth as his hands grasped for Cobb's coat, gasping for breath, but Dom fell to his knees beside him as he collapsed, holding his head in one hand as he laid him down. Hiccupped breaths suddenly became fainter in Dom's arms, brown eyes staring at him with certainty and pain. The Extractor nodded, and Arthur closed his eyes, completely going limp, breath fading from his body. And a tiny red loaded die slipped from the Point Man's fingers, hitting the wooden floorboards with a series of dull thuds.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

"What the? Oh my God! Why the bloody hell did you just kill him? Have you gone mad?" Eames screamed angrily, finding his voice in the shock.

Dom looked up. "I thought you hated Arthur, Eames."

His eyes widened. "What? What the hell? Damn, you, It was always a joke! You knew that, Dom! Why would you bloody think about that? You've just sent him to Limbo! How in the hell-!"

"Listen to me, listen!" Dom grabbed Eames' coat, shaking him. "Calm down! He knows what he's doing! He went in there to save Ariadne…"

They both looked down… she was still covered in blood…as was the young man now laying by her side.

Eames walked past Dom. "Oh God," he whispered.

Cobb knelt down next to Arthur's body and started unfurling the Point Man's shirt from under his belt, pulling it up past his ribcage. "We just need to finish the job. They'll be fine, now just hand me those charges."

"What? Dammit, Cobb, he's not a bloody computer! These are for the house! These aren't the same as defibrillators! It would fry him!"

"Shut up, Eames! I know!" he stated. "But it's all we got. If they're in Limbo, they're gonna need a big enough kick back up out of there. You know how hard the kick is to get back out of that God-forsaken place. Even if it gives him scars, we need both of them out of there!"

"You have no idea what it'll do to him!"

"I know it's his only chance…"

Eames stepped back, taking a deep breath in and running his hands through his hair. He didn't like this plan. He DID NOT like this.

"You have no idea how it will affect him, even if you did manage to bring him back."

"It…just takes a leap of faith."

Eames took another breath, and knelt down. "Fine." He helped set the charges on Arthur's chest, mentally thinking that if they made it back this kid _definitely _needed to eat more, and they both looked to Ariadne.

"Should we do it for her?"

"I'll do it. You seem to have the wrong idea when women are placed in your hands."

Eames shrugged un-innocently, while Dom protectively set the charges underneath her jacket and shirt, and getting to his feet, took his gun from his side and checked the safety, turning it off. "We have to move. But one of us has to stay to time the charges and the song right."

"I'll stay here, you know what you're doing more than I. I can't help any more here than make sure that they get back. Go, set the charges and finish scoping the house. I'll protect them."

"But I'm blowing the building!"

"Then we'll just have to get out before you do!" he gave Cobb a light shove. "How much time to get out?"

Dom looked at his watch. "I can only give 10 minutes."

"Done. Now go and blow those bastard projection brains out."

The Extractor nodded, and taking out the player and headphones, tossed them to the Forger. He turned on his heel and running out of the room. "10 minutes starting now, Eames!"

"You worry your little ass off too much, you know that Dom?" He yelled after him. He turned to the two bodies, standing over them.

"Geez, mate," he whispered. "you must really care for her more than I thought." He placed Arthur's fallen totem back in his hand, and intertwined Arthur's cold fingers in Ariadne's, and picking up his gun, sighed heavily.

"God help ya."

_Soaked to the bone, Arthur looked up from the pounding waves, coughing up water and trying to get his hair out of his face. He shook his head, trying to clear the swirling dizziness from the water and the "fall." At last he looked up, and stared in awe at what he was seeing. So this was Limbo…Ariadne's at least. _

_He recognized Paris, or what seemed to be the great City of Lights, on the outside, noticing the college and the bridge over the river. He knew Cobb had told her never to use places from the real world, but he understood that in the subconscious, minds took from what they knew. He saw though that the streets were filled with paradoxes and enigmatical structures and forms, seeing mazes that seemed to defy themselves within designs of the sidewalks, and a pattern to the buildings in which every third building was standing on only one corner of the foundation, like a balancing top or a Hanukah dreidel. The skies were actually a lovely shade of light blue, but ended on the horizon abruptly, and there were only buildings within a few square miles built. The rest was flat dirt as far as the eye could see…even the river ended just where the buildings did. _

_She had only thought up that far…_

_Limbo was not a universal place. It was what each person made it to be within their minds._

_He saw many of the Penrose stairwells he had taught her… in fact a lot more than he would have guessed, and he thought for just that brief second (or however much time passed in Limbo) that her subconscious was filled with memories of him. _

_But still everything around him had a sense that they held something deeper, something locked away that no one ever knew, and he knew he had to find her. Something didn't feel right. _

"_Ariadne!" he cried out, cupping his hands to his mouth, and immediately, some of the buildings began to shake. Her voice came on the wind from the inside of the shaking buildings, and he ran towards them, only to run head first into a "see through" barrier. _

_He groaned at the pain. It was like running headfirst into a wall…and he rubbed his forehead as he backed up enough to notice that his reflection had shown up in front of him._

_What the heck?_

_A mirror? _

_Then it hit him: he had to think paradoxically. _

_Following his reflection and watching both sides of the river, which reflected each building and him completely, he ran his hands along the mirrors, running parallel to them, faster and faster, and all the while, her voice on the wind became stronger with each step. It seemed as if the mirrors would go forever, until screamed echoed through both sides of the river. _

_And he stopped. _

_Catching his breath, he noticed that the other side of the river, the reflection, had one opposite detail; a series of very tall buildings that were a shade darker than their reflection counterparts. No ordinary person would have noticed minute details such as those, but his job _was _the details. He backed up, craning his head to watch both reflections, and he continued to sidestep, parallel to the mirror in front of him. _

_At last he stared in front of him, and his own reflection was no more, only in one spot, about 2 feet wide, but it was as if the mirror was still there, but he had been erased when he intervened at this spot. He looked over his shoulder, and that reflection was still there. Yep. This was his stop. _

_Reaching his hand forward through the space, he found it was not a mirror, but a walkway, which suddenly switched so that when he squeezed through (he was particularly slender), he was pulled forward by an unseen force on his vest to an office lobby. _

_He looked out the window, and instead of seeing Paris, tall skyscrapers stood on the horizon. It looked like his hometown of New York city…No. _

_Chicago? She was from The Windy City?_

_Now that he thought about it, she had never mentioned anything about where she was from, who her family was, why she was in Paris, besides studying to become an Architect. Whenever anyone mentioned the word 'family,' he recalled right then that almost every time, she got up to retrieve something, go to the bathroom, or look like she was checking her phone for texts. He knew better, though it hadn't ever registered. She reminded him of himself, in that split second of realization. Secretive, never mentioning her past._

_He had to find her and get out of there. Something was wrong._

_He stepped into an elevator, and there was only one simple button, so he pushed it. And it immediately opened to a middle-class apartment on the highest floor, fully furnished with color and life. But something was eerily dead, as the lights were off and shadows danced across the ceiling and floor when he had entered, a grey hue over everything in the stillness of the living room. He walked in on silent feet, careful not to disturb anything as his eyes scanned the space, but his gaze locked upon a square box to the left of him, behind a partition of the kitchen and settled on a podium in a nook in the wall. _

_He walked up and just stared. The box's sides changed shapes and mirror sizes, in which it looked like a glowing-outline-Rubix-cube trying to solve itself in this dark corner. He took a deep breath in. It was a storage unit. And the Point Man was much too tempted to look inside. _

_Relying on speed and sharp wit, Arthur watched the box move a few times, remembering the pattern, and suddenly finding the combination he wanted, reached for the crack in the moving shapes that he thought was the door, and the box stopped moving, opening up for him._

_He reached in, pulled out two papers and a key, unlocked the smaller safe within with the key, and he found another paper and was shocked to see his own face in a photo staring back at him. He was in her safe? Along with one picture of her family, altogether there was just a police report of a missing girl… a drawing of a paradox house on a blood-spotted sheet of paper, another drawing of Ariadne, the woman of the actual myth, for whom the Architect had been named, and one dried daisy. He was intrigued, confused, but he would come back to the objects later. He turned his attention to the words written as he read the paper, a letter of sorts, though the name it had been addressed to had long faded. _

_His eyes scanned the letter, but only one phrase stood out._

"I can't hurt them…he can't know."

_He had an inkling feeling that he was not supposed to belong here. _

"_Arthur?" _

_He swiftly turned around at his voice and he smiled at the person, a full smile that spread over his entire face at the sight of her, alive again. _

"_Ariadne…" _

_She ran to him, and he to her. She latched onto him for dear life as he held her tight in an embrace. _

"_What are you doing here?"_

"_I came to get you. I'm bringing you back. I'm so sorry that I couldn't stop that projection." _

_She smiled. "It's alright. Just goes with the job I guess. Thank you." _

_But her eyes suddenly flew to the paper in his hand, and confusion swept over her features, changing relief to tension as she looked to the papers, then to him, then to something behind him…the safe…and her fingers curled into fists in his shirt._

"_Wha- what did you do?"_

"_I-I opened the safe…" _

"_You what?" Hurt was in her eyes, pain in her voice. And immediately the walls shattered. Glass flew around, and the buildings taller than the one they were standing in began to crumble and fall. How dare he! "I thought I could trust you…" she whispered, pulling away. _

"_Me? What did you do? Is this why you never speak of your family?" He held up the police report and the letter as he rose his voice above the storm, and the darkness electrified in her eyes at his question. The searing pain in her heart had returned again, even when she thought she had pushed it away, locked it away, for good. And yet here it was, staring her in the face once more, like a parasite of guilt and shame welling up in her core. _

_He saw the pain, and his voice became quieter. "You of all people, besides Dom, should know that you can't run away from memories, nor lock them away." _

"_I did what I had to, back then," her voice was steel as her eyes focused back onto him. "but I never expected anyone to find this."_

"_How can you trust those who love you then? To let them in where no one else can pry?" Her eyes widened at his statement. Did he just…?_

_No. _

_He wasn't going to break through that last bit of consciousness that had kept her silent for the past 6 years… she wasn't going to let him in that deeply into her soul. Ever._

"_Why won't you let me in?"_

"_You don't ever need to know that side of me, Arthur. EVER. You don't want to know what happened."_

"_It's obvious that you're hiding something. Please, Ariadne, don't let it destroy you, like it did to Mal. Please!" _

"_Mal's deepest secrets weren't locked away _quite happily_, away from prying eyes. I hid that part of me because I DID NOT want to remember it, any of it, at all! And I was living life and doing fine until you had to open it. Now you know more of who I really am, why I ran. And you can't be trusted."_

"_It's because I know more of you now that I understand you better! You can trust me! You know you can! I know you can read my eyes, remember? You know what's in my heart. I know what's in yours! And whatever you're going through, whatever your past, I'm never going to leave you. You're not alone. Please, if no one else, just trust _me_. I would never betray or judge you."_

"_I don't believe you." _

_Though she desperately wanted to._

"_I've come to bring you back. And I would never tell the others unless you did."_

"_No."_

"_What would it take to prove that I still see you as the same person?"_

"_A lot more than what you're stating." Liar._

_His eyes met hers. "I'm not leaving without you. Nor am I leaving you to face or remember what you've tried to hide all this time alone. Please…" his eyes showed the truth. "Ariadne."_

_The way he said her name. _

_Not as a stranger, not as a friend, not even as a lover…but the way he said it shattered her heart. Her hardened heart. The wall was breached._

_She broke down. _

_He fell to his knees with her as she started to sob. She didn't need to tell him her story right then, she didn't need to explain anything to him; he just held her as the wind rushed through and building still toppled. The ground beneath them began to shake, but he felt like he was on solid ground. There was something about showing his true feelings and compassion for once that just felt right. He'd always been the serious one, the logical thinker. With her, he was more._

"_I'm sorry, so sorry."_

"_There is no need."_

_Silence ensued for a time, besides the roaring of the wind and the metal of the building shrieking as supports snapped. _

_He looked at his surroundings. Everything was swaying and shattering._

"_Come back with me." He held her tighter, his pulse pounding in his throat. "We'll get through this together, alright? Ariadne, I l-"_

_The building suddenly gave way below them, shattering at the beams, and pieces of the architecture crashed down about them. She screamed and he held her tight to his chest as he rolled away from the rubble , but he pushed her from by his side to out of the way as a metal beam suddenly crashed onto the place where they had lay, onto him. He cried out at the agony, face down and almost a bit too near the edge…_

"_Arthur!" she screamed, carefully running to his side, watching her step by the precipice of wrecked glass and splintered metal. He let out an anguished cry as she grabbed his hands. He wasn't about to hide _this _pain._

Time was up. The charges were set. Now or never. Eames pressed play.

"_Non, rien de rienNon, je ne regrette rien…"_

_That haunting melody whispered on the wind, and Arthur looked up skywards, where black clouds came in swifter than normal, and he winced. That sign was not good at this moment. _

'"_What is it?" she yelled._

"_The anthem!"_

"_What do we do?" Her voice held grief. He was still stuck underneath rubble, and she wasn't about to leave. She held his hands tighter. _

"_Go!" he cried, "You have to jump!" _

"_NO! I'm not leaving you! You came for me, I'm not leaving without you! You said you would never leave me!" Her voice cracked with pain. Arthur looked up; the buildings were crashing down. _

_They received one second of staring into each other's eyes. That one second confirmed it all for both. _

"_You won't _ever _be alone. If I don't make it, at least _you _will! Ariadne, jump! NOW!" he cried, pushing her off. Her scream became distant beneath him as she fell, and he prayed to God that he had done the right thing. Rubble was falling…he squirmed and lurched from his stuck position. He had to get out of here…_

"Dear Lord, save us," Eames breathed as he pressed the button. Both bodies twitched and lurched from the shock. Immediately it brought Ariadne back, still wounded but gasping for air as her body flung forward.

_A zap of electricity through his body made his senses on high alert… the _kick_… time slowed down as the rubble seemed to crash in slow motion around him._

She cried out at the pain, but Eames helped her sit up. "Easy, love. Take it slow. You're still wounded."

"E-Eames?" she shook out.

He breathed a quick sigh of relief, smiling. She would be alright…but the smile faded as his gaze focused to the man lying deathly still by her side.

Her gaze followed his, the blood-stained vest and pants, the pale skin, and she squeezed the Forger's hand in fear, her already agonized chest heaving.

"Ar-Arthur?" A quivering hand went to his chest. He didn't wake. "Why-why would you do that for me?" She clung to his shirt, tears forming in her eyes. "Why?" she shook him delicately, then harder, and harder, her tears falling onto his chest. It wouldn't have affected her this badly, knowing it was just a dream, but at the third level, with him still stuck in Limbo-for good- he would not even make it to wake in the real world. He would be dead in the mind to all.

She cried out and shook him harder.

Eames stared in grief. "Bloody hell," he whispered, but he made his choice, suddenly picked her up in his arms, tearing her grip from Arthur's body. He had to at least get two out of three out of there before the clock ran out.

"Wha-? Eames! NO! What are you doing? We can't leave him! Arthur!" She screamed his name, but was powerless in his grip as he ran out, holding her like a child against him, rushing and sliding through the maze of rooms Ariadne had designed, now in pieces, their destruction stopped at the resuscitation of their Architect.

Dom finished off gunning down the last of the projections he had seen, when his watched beeped for the 20 second warning of his release of the bomb. He looked up and silently prayed.

"Where are they?" he whispered, and Eames suddenly burst through one of the windows, Ariadne holding onto him for dear life. The Forger let out an "oomf!" as his feet, and unfortunately his knees, hit the ground, but he scrambled up, running full speed towards the Extractor.

"My God! What took you so long?" Dom cried, helping the man set the young woman down slowly on the grass as he fell to his knees, catching his breath.

"I-we-Ar…"

"Don't worry about it now. I've got to blow it. It's ready!"

"NO!" Ariadne screamed to him. "Cobb no! You can't!"

"What?"

"Arthur's still in there! He's stuck in Limbo!"

"WHAT? How could you leave him there?"

Eames began to run towards the house, trying to make it back to the Point Man's side.

"EAMES, NO!" Cobb cried, tackling him to the ground, the time counted down…

"_It's too late…"_

4...

The song ended within the player.

_Arthur looked up at the sudden silence. The buildings above him began to smash and crumble, falling faster towards his trapped position. One particular piece of the building broke off and seemed to know where he was, headed for him and him alone. _

3...

"_Oh, shit!" and, tearing free, he finally managed to wiggle out and leapt off of the building just as steel and concrete crushed where he had been._

2...

The button pressed…

_The ground came nearer and nearer…and he hit. _

1...

His eyes opened just as the explosives went off.

After searching under rubble and wreckage, ruins and debris, she found him, crying out his name as she pulled the shards of building off of his still form and flipped the young man over, entwining one hand in his, the other on his cheek. "_No!_"

She leaned down and placed her head on his chest, arms encircling his body as the tears rolled silently down her face. _I never got to tell him… _

At that thought, she grimaced in grief, her body shaking above his. When they would be pulled out of the dream, he would not recognize her. He wouldn't be the man she knew. He wouldn't be the man anyone knew. He wouldn't be _Arthur_.

She held him tighter, gripping his clothing until her knuckles turned white as she let out a strangled cry.

But lungs beneath her let out a soft whispered groan, and as she pulled back to stare at him, where closed eyelids dimly cracked open, and he looked up at her.

"You're alive?" she breathlessly exclaimed. The shock and amazement were enough for her heart to hitch.

After trying to gain back energy and voice, he smiled faintly. "Needed a shock _and _a drop for a kick," he whispered hoarsely.

"You idiot…you…your hair's messed up," she silently laughed and let out a sob. She gently brought him to her body and hugged him tight. "I'm so thankful you're alive," she breathed, and he weakly stroked her hair, but his hand fell limply to his chest as he sighed and once again blacked out. She only held him closer and turned her gaze up to the two men standing above them.

"We need to get them out of here, Cobb," Eames whispered as he turned his back from the two on the ground.

"Agreed. We can cancel the dream, and come back when they're healed mentally as well. I think this has taken its toll on all of us. We'll be ready next time…And now we know what to look out for. The next time, Hoyazaki will just think this was déjà vu."

Ariadne looked towards Eames' open hand toward her. "Come on." She took it, and Dom picked up the unconscious Arthur, who was completely limp.

"Will he be okay?"

"I'm pretty sure he will be."

"Don't worry Ariadne, he's stronger than you think…"

"I know that…"

Yusuf stood from his place by the PASIV device. "What are you doing here? You're not to wake for another few minutes…!"

Cobb began to talk, but Arthur reclosed his eyes. There was too much to take in at once…

Ariadne sat up, still gasping, holding her chest, looking down her vest and shirt. She was alive, but just one drop of blood remained on her shirt to show any trace of the ordeal. The pain was ebbing… but was it supposed to be real pain? She looked up. Cobb had turned from facing Yusuf, and he and Eames were looking at her; Cobb's hand was on her back in protection. "Thank you guys," she whispered, but then looked to Arthur. Everyone's gazes changed as well to him, and the Extractor and Forger looked at each other.

"We need a breather, Yusuf. Come with us."

"What happened?"

"A secret has been found out. We start again in a few minutes. Tell the conductor to stop the train. But tell him nicely." Cobb slipped Yusuf a wad of cash and nodded to him.

Ariadne stared at Arthur. Nothing said, nothing heard, except his deep breathing and her gasping breaths. She got up and sat next to him, putting her hands on both of the reclining arm chairs and leaned forward.

He opened his eyes just as she stroked his cheek. He smiled. That smile that only Arthur could give… a soft, completely at peace smile, but at the same time, hiding a laugh. She smiled as well. He loved her smile.

"That was a nightmare," his smooth voice floated to her face, only inches away.

"Why-why would you do that for me?"

He reached to stroke her cheek. His touch was feather light on her skin.

"You know why. It's what you tried to tell me. Were you afraid?"

"When it happened, yeah. But you caught me, and I saw your face…and I knew it would be alright."

"I'll confess, I'd never been more scared in my life than that. But I did it because it's what I didn't get to say what I wanted to."

"I never finished what I was going to say."

"I knew what you meant."

"But I have to say it, Arthur."

"I love you," he whispered first, looking up at her.

She laughed. "That was my line."

"Had to beat you to it."

She stroked his cheek. "I love you, Arthur…thank you. Thank you for saving my life."

"I know I can't make it without you…" his voice became low in his throat, and she gently brought her lips to his as he pulled her closer with an arm around her waist.

_Knowing now that this was reality…_

Someone cleared a throat behind them, and she turned around, Arthur's head peeking around her, with that one-eyebrow-raised look he always had. Cobb was standing there, arms crossed, not phased by their intimacy in the least bit.

"Now that feelings have been openly shared, think you two can make it for another few levels?"

Arthur stood up straight with her help, and fixing his vest, tie, and slicking his hair backward, while the young woman stood proudly by his side, he then took Ariadne's hand in his.

"Let the fun begin."


End file.
